1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to heating equipment for swimming pools, hot tubs, and spas. In particular, heating equipment which utilize reclaimed waste heat to accelerate the heating of air bubbles and water in swimming pools, hot tubs, and spas.
2. Background Art
Swimming pools, hot tubs, and spas have come into widespread use both for recreational and health related purposes. Depending on the geographic location, the usable season for water related activities may be severely limited due to weather. The prior art has extended the usable season by providing water heaters which allow an individual to comfortably use these pools, hot tubs, and spas outside of their normal usable season. In many climates, water heaters make possible year round use. Heaters can use a variety of fuel types such as solar, electric, oil, or gas.
In hot tubs and spas, which use air bubbles, the injection of ambient air in cold weather adversely affects comfort due to direct contact with the air bubbles by an individual and also due to the lowering of water temperature by the cold air. Further, by lowering water temperature, the ambient air increases the amount of energy used by the heater to maintain a constant water temperature. Attempts to solve this problem have been made using separate air furnaces to heat air prior to injection into the hot tub or spa.
Serious disadvantages to the use of the heaters is the high cost of energy required to heat large volumes of water, and the long burn times required for the heaters to raise the temperature to a comfortable level. In addition, systems using air bubbles, such as hot tubs and spas, compound the problems associated with heating water. In these systems, either the cold air bubbles increase the amount of burn time required for the water heater to maintain temperature, or a separate furnace is required to heat the air bubbles. In either case, a large amount of energy is used. Extended time periods are also necessary to heat the water, resulting in undesirable delays when an individual decides to use the spa until it can comfortably be entered. In addition, adjustable temperature control of air bubbles by an individual to suit that persons particular comfort level is not available.
The prior art has failed to provide an efficient heating system for water facilities capable of high speed, low energy heating of both water and air wherein both water and air temperature are individually controllable to the comfort of the user. In addition, the prior art has not shown a system capable of providing air bubbles without an increase in energy usage.